New Indian envoy to US to take charge amid Devyani row

Washington: S Jaishankar, the new Indian Ambassador to US, arrived here to take charge amid a raging diplomatic row over the arrest and strip-search of senior diplomat Devyani Khobragade on visa fraud charges.

He is to take charge at a time when officials from both countries have intensified efforts to find an amicable resolution of the issue of Khobragade's arrest.

Jaishankar, who till recently was India's Ambassador to China, arrived in Washington on Monday afternoon from New York where he flew in from New Delhi.

While he would formally present his credentials to US President Barack Obama at the White House in the new year, Jaishankar is expected to present his credentials to the Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Desai Biswal at the State Department soon.

Known as one of the brightest Foreign Service officials of his generation who played a key role in the India-US civilian nuclear deal, Jaishankar first task would be to prevent the relationship from getting derailed any further in the wake of the visa fraud case against Khobragade.

She was arrested on December 12 on charges of making false declarations in a visa application for her maid Sangeeta Richard. She was released on a USD 250,000 bond after being charged with visa fraud.

Subsequent revelations that she was strip searched and held with criminals triggered a row between the two sides.

Jaishankar, who is proficient in Russian, and knows Japanese and Hungarian, succeeds Nirupama Rao. Born in New Delhi in 1955, Jaishankar is son of prominent Indian strategic affairs analyst, commentator, and civil servant K Subrahmanyam and brother of historian Sanjay Subrahmanyam.